Who Cares About Country Pride?

Here is a thought for all you Olympic loving dip wads, Who Cares? The whole thing is such a waste of time and money. Who Cares? The host country spends billions of dollars to erect entire cities of sports venues, for what? Who cares who the fastest anything is? Who cares who the best gymnast is? Who cares who the best basketball team is? Who really freaking cares?

Not me as you can see.

Are we not sure that the money allocated would be better put to use? Of course we are. All of this posturing for country pride? What about human necessity? Are you going to tell me pride is more important than necessity? Are you going to sit there and tell me that there are not more important issues, facing humanity, than spending 4 years or more preparing for ceremonies? Why bother? In every one of these countries that participate is there not more serious concerns than who gets a gold medal or who has the cutest uniforms?

Brazil has basically bankrupted it's entire economy to host and the President is impeachable because of corruption, people are starving and cost of goods are rising daily, while they hurry to finish all the Olympic projects at the expense of an entire country. Projects that will be useless after everyone else leaves? For what? Who cares about the damn Olympics? Sure they will put on a show and millions will watch because what else is there to do?

As if Brazil has not already wasted enough money on Carnivale, which is a yearly fiasco of pageantry that should be relegated to a pile of manure.

This rant is about country pride at the expense of human necessity. I happen to think the Olympics just create more of a separation between nations, rather than foster goodwill, let's try not bombing the crap out of each other in the name of useless crap, like oil, gold, religion, drugs, etc.

Why does anyone care about the Olympics, when children are being abused daily everywhere? Couldn't the resources spent on these stupid game be better spent helping them? Of course they could. So, I ask again, Who Cares? I do. About much more than a bunch of silly medals, I care if this world can actually survive and the Olympics has nothing to offer in that regard.

I care.
Climb off the couch and join Habitat For Humanity if you want to help.
Calling your opponent names " dip wads "
isnt going to help your cause, dip wad.

a reply to: INEVERQUIT

One of the greatest things about removing television and radio from my life was not having advertising crammed down my throat.
Second best? Not having to hear about the olympics every year. Or football. Hockey. Baseball. Whatever the latest hot trend is.

It's all there just to give people something to focus on *other* than the source of their problems.
Turn it off, tune it out. You'll be better off for it.

Spoken like someone who has never been an athlete.

Competition fosters fraternity/sorority in a way you don't understand, even between competitors. We all bust our humps and put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into our sports. That is a commonality across all competitors, no matter what other divisions there are between us.

Sure, you get some bitter rivalries on occasion, but for the most part, the competition stays on the field.

In that, the Olympics do what they were intended to, but for a very small and specialized group. All those athletes mostly know each and other and will see each other pretty often at various competitions all the time. The Olympics are intended to showcase that to the rest of the world. How well they do it is arguable.

IMO, there should be more venues like the Olympics for various things to showcase more communities like athletes who do get brought together despite international boundaries. I think they are more common than we know.

a reply to: INEVERQUIT

I care about country pride. I just don't care who can jump the highest, fastest, or longest.

a reply to: INEVERQUIT

I'll be cheering on British athletes and looking forward to seeing the best of all the other nations too.

These athletes have worked their whole lives to reach the peak of their game and, for me, that's something to admire and celebrate. Triathlons, Olympics, Commonwealth Games etc are all competitions that are worth watching imo.

Millions of people across the world cheer on their own athletes and celebrate the record-breakers wherever they come from.

Isn't that amount of joy and unity worth something?? It is isn't it??!

Why does anyone care about the Olympics, when children are being abused daily everywhere? Couldn't the resources spent on these stupid game be better spent helping them? Of course they could. So, I ask again, Who Cares? I do. About much more than a bunch of silly medals, I care if this world can actually survive and the Olympics has nothing to offer in that regard.

It sounds like your rant should be focused on the leaders of the countries that host the Olympics. Areas get cleared and people are forced to move out and don't always get rehoused in better places. Iirc Australia has been the only nation to break even of hosting them.

But let's be honest here. Cancelling or banning sports competitions won't bring an end to war, social inequality or the abuse of people of all ages.

a reply to: INEVERQUIT

You are in the minority! I care, and I do not even watch sports. I go to an occasional Dodger game and that's about it.

There were a bunch of pics of former Olympic venues on MSN this morning. It was sad to see them lost and abandoned like that. The worst one was the pic of the Olympic village in Athens. The caption noted that it had been planned to make it public housing after the Olympics and that thousands had applied to live there, but then the plans fell through and the whole development was simply left to rot, pool and all.

Some of them find uses, and some places tear theirs down for other things. I know Atlanta demolished theirs for other projects and one became a baseball stadium that will be redone yet again in a year or two.

Some of the Sarajevo venues became bunkers during the war that broke out not too long after their winter Olympics, and today the toboggan routes are used for BMX races.

I went to find that link and didn't see it. It's already been moved off I guess in the flood of early Olympics news.

a reply to: INEVERQUIT

With all that's going wrong in the world why is some basic good old fashioned healthy competition so bad? If you're so dead set against the Olympics then just don't watch them. It isn't like you watching them or not would have any influence on whether a child is fed. Unless of course you're going to go find some homeless person and feed them, that would be cool.


Be the change you want.

I'll wait for your thread on feeding the homeless

originally posted by: lordcomac
a reply to: INEVERQUIT

One of the greatest things about removing television and radio from my life was not having advertising crammed down my throat.
Second best? Not having to hear about the olympics every year. Or football. Hockey. Baseball. Whatever the latest hot trend is.

It's all there just to give people something to focus on *other* than the source of their problems.
Turn it off, tune it out. You'll be better off for it.

You are on the internet, that seems hypocritical. All of these things are all over the Internet..... Look at all the advertising on ATS.

Heh, I'm likely one of the only people in the world who chases down the times for the equestrian events. I also like watching some of the other more obscure sports that you just don't see often. A little table tennis, judo and fencing are fun.

I've been wondering about the possibility of having a permanent Olympic site that could be used for other sporting events, such as the World Cup, too.

I don't know where it could be situated but it might save a lot of expense and heart-wringing.

Favourite sport for me would be Sumo wrestling. I love that. Handy tip - it's usually best to put your money on the bigger guy

How about Charlie Pride?

i dig the olympics. im not really into sports save for mma but i get sucked in to the olympics every time. i am from the states but i dont automatically want the USA to win. i dont care about that.

i get hooked pretty fast and when i decide who i like thats who i want to win.

i dont like all the events though. a lot i dont watch really.
for summer though. there are some kick ass events.

i like the platform diving. china usually rules at that.

originally posted by: nfflhome
I care.
Climb off the couch and join Habitat For Humanity if you want to help.
Calling your opponent names " dip wads "
isnt going to help your cause, dip wad.

Help who! habitat for humanity is directly responsible for the rise of crime in my neighborhood, directly responsible for the drastic drop in property value, directly responsible for old people, who cannot afford to move from the homes they raised their kids in, living in fear for their very lives. # jimmy carter and # habitat. They are nothing but a tool of destruction.

originally posted by: intrepid
How about Charlie Pride?

Anyone who doesn't Charlie Pride cannot be trusted and their opinion means naught.

a reply to: INEVERQUIT

Asking the question the OP asks strongly indicates that national pride is declining in whatever country the poster comes from. A nation that has no national pride and no sense of its identify is a nation that is ripe for takeover.

Conversely, a nation with a lot of national pride and a strong sense of identify is not a good candidate for takeover.

Ever wonder why Israel never takes in refugees? How many have they taken in from the current ingratiation crisis.?

I thought the story was that all countries were supposed to do their bit for the 'refugees' from the middle east.

Who cares about national pride? Try everyone who isnt a whinny crybaby millenial

I ABSOLUTELY CARE!

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I love the Olympics. I also understand the economic and ecological issues that arise. I have watched both Summer and Winter since I was a kid.

But this year I get to watch my cousin compete for a gold medal! So I am all in

On a non-personal note...

I get it if you or other don't care about it. I totally get that people see Olympic fans as overrun with Olympic fever and country pride. It IS possible to care about abuses and death and still enjoy the Olympics though. To think it is not is very one-sided

I enjoy watching the Olympics. It's been a tradition to do so all of my life.
I realize some of the host cities could have used the money they spent on it for more important things. Brazil isn't the ideal place when the country is in so much turmoil, but perhaps their message about preserving the Amazon rain forest could have an effect. It's a beautiful place and I'm glad to learn more about throughout the coverage. I live near a city that hosted one and was proud to showcase my city of Vancouver.

Athletes train hard for their moment. It means something to them , whether you agree or not They have inspiring stories and the message to try your hardest and overcome obstacles.